Oops… I Went Into Heat and My Alpha Daddies Claimed Me

Keisha’s POV

I was itching to ask Nadia what she had been looking for, but I decided to put it off for now.

Klein had led us away from the compound and stopped beneath the cover of the trees.

I was still holding the journal against my chest, my fingers wrapped tightly around its worn cover, while Nadia stood a few feet away trying to catch her breath.

"What were you doing in Osric’s bedroom?" I asked, turning toward her. Nadia stared at me for a second, then looked away, and that reaction only made me more suspicious. "You were in there searching through his things, you grabbed the journal at the same time I did so you had your eyes on it. I want to know why you thought Osric was worth investigating in the first place."

Nadia folded her arms, looking equally frustrated now. "Because of Vera," she admitted. "I started getting suspicious after we went to her annex and I don’t know... you were asking questions about her. I didn’t understand what was happening. Then I started thinking about how determined she has been to get involved in your situation, how much she keeps asking about you and what you’re doing, and how strangely interested she seems in everything connected to you."

She took a deep breath. "And she seemed close to elder Osric. So I thought I would find something there to explain what was happening."

I let out a breath and rubbed my forehead, still trying to process everything that had happened this night.

I looked down at the journal again, wondering what exactly we’d stumbled across and whether the answer to all of this was sitting inside the book.

Klein finally stepped closer. "You two can continue arguing when you’re safely back inside the mansion."

I looked at him. "How did you even know we were there?"

He gave me a look that suggested the answer should have been obvious. "Because I know you. After I gave you those financial records, I knew you wouldn’t simply read them and go to sleep. Once I realized Osric’s name was involved, I could make a pretty good guess about where you’d go."

I stared at him, then shook my head. "You predicted that I’d go to his house?"

"You have a knack for doing the wildest things, Keisha, it was obvious that you wouldn’t sit still and I guessed you would get yourself in trouble," he corrected. "Osric was the most obvious place to start."

Nadia looked between us before letting out a small breath of disbelief. "So you basically knew she’d do something reckless."

Klein’s expression remained completely serious. "Something like that. She’s just like her mother sometimes with how she acts."

I couldn’t help the brief smile that touched my face despite everything. "Thank you for coming after us."

Nadia nodded quickly. "Seriously. If you hadn’t shown up, I don’t even know how we would’ve gotten out."

Klein looked toward the mansion in the distance. "Please don’t make me rescue you from the same situation twice. That was close."

Right.

He walked us back toward the estate, staying with us until we reached the outer grounds.

From there, he stopped and looked toward the mansion while we stood beside the back gate. We thanked him once more before he turned away, pulling his hood over his head and disappearing into the darkness.

I watched until I could no longer see him, then looked at Nadia. "We should go in through the back." I suggested.

She nodded. Neither of us wanted to risk walking through the main entrance after sneaking out without telling anyone where we were going.

We slipped through the back gate and made our way around the mansion, keeping quiet as we reached the back door. Thankfully, the servants and guards were occupied elsewhere, and we managed to get inside without drawing attention.

We moved through the back corridors until we reached my room. I pushed the door open carefully and stepped inside with Nadia trailing behind me while I wondered what we were gonna do now.

Was I now supposed to tell her about my findings about Vera?

Just as I looked up, my heart stopped — Callum was sitting in the chair near the window.

I stopped so abruptly Nadia nearly walked into me.

At the thud, he lifted his head and the anger on his face was immediate.

Oh fuck.

Callum looked from me to Nadia, then back to me, his jaw tight and his expression making it painfully obvious that he’d been waiting. "You two really aren’t going to stop making me worry, are you?"

Nadia and I both opened our mouths at the same time.

"Callum, I—"

"We were just—"

We stopped when we realized we were speaking over each other.

Callum stood and the movement made both of us fall silent.

I could see the questions in his expression, but I wasn’t ready to tell him where we’d been.

Nadia looked just as caught off guard, and I wondered what exactly we were supposed to tell him.

Why was he back at the mansion anyway? He was supposed to be away all night.

Callum looked between us, his anger still obvious, but then something changed in his expression. "There is a more important matter."

A more important matter? The look on his face was enough to make me straighten. If he had to come look for me personally, then it had to be serious. For a second, I considered that something may have happened with Duskfen.

My stomach tightened and he took a breath before looking directly at me. "Orin is here."

What?

My fingers tightened around the journal and for a second, I couldn’t even speak.

Orin.

Flashes of everything that had happened the last time I had been restrained by him came rushing back in my memories and I suddenly felt a sinking feeling in my guts.

What the fuck was he doing here?

I looked at Callum. "Here?"

He nodded slowly. "Orin is here."